Account-book.



C. L. SMITH.

ACCOUNT BOOK.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 8. HHG.

` Patented Aug. 28, 1917.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 8| 1916.

. C. L. SMITH.

ACCOUNT BOOK;

Patented Aug. 28, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET Z.

C. L. SIVIITHL Accoum Boon. APPLICATION FILED IEB. 8. i916.

Patented Aug. 28; 191?.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

31a/verm Oz M QS. la

CONNOR L. SMITH, OE' CONCORD, NORTH CAROLINA.

ACCOUNT-BOOK.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patggngd Aug, 2g, 191 113' Applicationled February 8, 1916. Serial No. 76,954.

To all whom t may concern.

Be it known that I a citizen of the Un in the county of C NorthCarolina, have and useful Improvei ks; and I do hereb to be a full, ofthe same, to the accompanying f this speeication his invention rconstruction. herein described is realized in t k, which is a sibination of cash bo whereby the keepin accounts is greatly sim sity oftransferring or cash book or journal t obviated. According provedarrangement, t keeper is not only si k of the auditor books, the accountboo that any page containi opened simultaneousl taining credit items,one original entry dir account may be debite R L. SMITH, residing atabarrus and invented cernents in Acy declare the clear, and exactdereference being had drawings, forming ited States elates to a novelbook peciiic embodiment e object of the invention provision of anaccount ple and convenient comjournal and ledger, f numerous pliiied andt posting items from a o the ledger entirely to the present imhe work ofthe bookmplified, but also the in auditing a set of k being soconstructed ng debit items may be y with any page conand, therefore,with ect to the ledger one d and another account A full understan beattained from t book are unlocked.

Fig. 5 is a transverse section taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3, showingthe parts of the locking mechanism in the positions which they assumewhen the adjacent independent cover leaves on the same side of a bookare locked together.

Fig. 6 is a plan view partly in section of the inner transverse edge ofone of the cover leaves, showing the locking mechanism in frontelevation.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the inner transverse edge of the opposed coverleaf showing in front elevation the socket receiving the boltillustrated in Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a perspective of a closed book.

Like characters of reference in the several iigures indicate the sameparts.

According to the invention, a plurality of groups of book sheets,preferably two, are provided and these are respectively indicated by theletters A B, as shown in Fig. l. The upper group of sheets A is composedof a plurality of account sheets and in the present instance the debititems of a ledger are entered on the account sheets of said upper group;the lower group of sheets B is likewise composed of a plurality ofaccount sheets, but these are for the entry of the credit items. Bothgroups A yand B have their inner edges a b bound one connection with theacngs which illustrate a ent of the same in a pretion, when taken incompanying drawi structural embodim ferred form.

The novel features o particularly pointed e claims at the end of In thedrawings: Figure l is a bodying th f the invention will out andspecified in the specification.

perspective of a book emrovements, the book cover leaves and the n openposition.

w of the book illuse present imp being shown with the groups of booksheets i Fig. 2 is a trated in Fig.

Fig. 3 is a plan view on of the impro pendent cover l g broken away toillustr arrangement of the parts. Fig. 4 is a transverse line 4&4 ofFig. 3, sh

an enlarged scale or locking the ther, a portion ate the interior vedmechanism f section taken on the owlng the parte' of above the other insubstantial alinement to a common backing C. This backing is preferably,although not necessarily, of the type employed in looseleaf ledgersystems, whereby old account sheets may be removed and newonessubstituted as desired. The backing C is best shown in Fig. 8, andis provided with upper and lower inwardly projecting extensions orledges c, o, said ledges running approximately the entire length of thebacking and between which the inner edges of the account sheetsconstituting the upper and lower groups are bound.

Each ledge is provided on its outer face, as for instance, the upperledge o shown in Fig. 8, with a plurality of alined lugs or bearingmembers eZ, which mutually support the pintle D of a hinge. Anindividual pair of cover leaves is provided for each individual group,and the several cover leaves are formed with soclreted hinge Vportions D.11o

adapted to receive the pintles D, there being, in the present instancefour cover leaves, the upper pair A and the lower pair B,vhinged on thepintles D on each side of the book. The above described arrangementprovides, a structure which has the appearance and characteristics oftwo books, one mounted above the other on a common backing, but with thecover leaves and leaves of one group of sheets entirely independent oftheother, whereby each group may be opened to any desired page withoutin any manner conflict?- ing or interfering` with the leaves of theother group.

The two groups are designed respectively for the entry of debit andcredit items in each account; in other words, all the debit items of oneac-` count are entered in the upper group A and all the credit items ofthe same account and` all other accounts are entered in the lower groupB. In the use of the book, therefore, the name of the person with whoman account is kept is entered in the usual manner at the top of thedesired' page in both the debit and credit sections of the book', and

all the debit items and credit items of theaccount are entered in theirrespective sections alone, there being no necessity for employing withthis arrangement either a cash book or a journal from which the itemsmust be posted to a ledger.

As the pages of the upper group or debit section may be openedindependently of the pages of the lower group or credit section,

osting of the accounts is greatly simplified and this is allaccomplished with the original entry instead of employing the methodsnow in use, where thersame entries are first made in, a journal or cashbook and then in turn posted in the ledger. In other words, according tothe present improvements, a double'handling of the items is not requiredso that the liability of making mistakes in the posting of the ledger isgreatly reduced.

In posting the accounts, it quite frequently happens that a sheet of theupper group A will be turnedto nearly its last page, asl shown in Fig.1, and a sheet' of the lower group B must be turned to one of the firstages. Under the above circumstances, if the last debit entry is close tothe bottom of the page, the thick pile of sheets in the credit sidebelow will obstruct the view of the debit page, if `the upper group ordebit section is allowed to lie flat on the` table. The independentcover leaves, provided for each group of sheets obviate this d isadl`vantage, as will readily appear from Fig. 1, since the cover leaf A ofthe upper group may be lifted by the hand, independently of the coverleaf B', of the lower group, and the obstructed debit page liftedapproxi` mately to the level of the credit page be-y heath', or to suhposition as will give' the A and B of account sheets' bookkeeper orlauditor a clear view of all the entries on both pages.

Y. The invention also provides means for locking together theindependent cover leaves onl one or on both sides of the book whendesired. It will be found particularly advantageous Y to gether whencarrying the books around, since ledgers or account books, in which theutility of the invention is particularly realized, are often ratherheavy cumbersome affairs, and, otherwise some little difficulty might beexperienced in moving the book from place to place. rfhe lockingmechanisms for the pair of cover leaves on each side of the book are, inthe present instance, simi` lar in' construction, and, hence only one ofthe' locking mechanisms will be described, although both are'illustrated in the Fig.,2 of the drawings. j

The cover leaves A B of the present book are relatively thick wherebyone cover leaf B', for instance, may contain within its boundaries themovable portion of the locking mechanism when not in use and theadjacent cover leaf A the socket also within its boundaries adapted toreceive the klocking member or it is advanced to lock the' two coverleaves together in the manner to be presently described. Referringnowparticularly to Figs. 2 to 7 inclusive, the upper cover leaf A isprovided with a bolt-receiving chamber extending inwardlyfromV its innertransverse edge a. This chamber is bly by lcutting away a rectangularportion fromv the board a ofthe cover leaf, and filling the gap thusformed frame, consisting of upper and lower plates E, E', securedrespectivelyany suitable lower sides of theV manner to the upper andboard a', and having the vertical connectingA wall or strip F12 flu/shwith'the edge a? of the inner uncut-away portion of the board j a. Thevertical connectingwall E2 in fact mayv be provided withV bolt, whenVformed prefera@ lock the cover leaves to-V with a metal,

forms the main portion of the inner transverse edge of the cover leafand, as shown in Fig. 1:, is spaced from the transverse wall a2 o ftheboard a so'as to provide a chamber E3 which receives the bolt of thelocking mechanism whenit is desired to lock the cover leaves A Btogether; i

,A Arectangular portion is likewise cut away from the board of the coverleaf B this cutaway portion, however, being of greater width than thatvof the board a. The metal frame, fitted to the board t consists ofinner and outer Vframe members. The inner member iis consists of upperand lower plates F, VFse'- A and having their forare extended beyond`Said strip F2 is, howit@ i 3. The outer member upper and lower plates,

appear from Fig. likewise consists of respectively, G G having theirforward edges connected by a vertical web or strip G2 and their rearportions lyingl over the plates F F. Strip G2 is flush with the edge b3of the board and with said edge forms in effect the inner transverseedge of the cover leaf B, this edge b facing the edge a of the coverleaf A. The bolt is received within the chamber G3 between strip G2 andedge b2.

Strip E2 is provided with a plurality of spaced round openings e,preferably three, as shown in F ig. 7, these being connected by a slot eextending along` the strip. The opposed strip G2 is likewise providedwith a plurality of spaced round openings g, also three in number, andconnected by a similar slot g, as shown in Fig. 6. When the two coverleaves are brought into substantially the same horizontal plane, theopenings in strip E2 will aline with the openings in strip G2. rIhe boltwhich is within socket G3 consists of a plurality of pins I-Icorresponding in number and diameter with the round holes g, the saidpins being connected by a transverse web H of a width adapted to beprojected with the pins H through the slots g and e respectively. Thepins H eX- tend beyond the edge of the web H and slide in round holes fin the web F2, said holes being in alinement with the holes g in web G2.Thus the web F2 forms a supporting guiding' member for the bolt. Afinger piece I secured to the center pin H of the bolt provides a meansfor sliding the bolt out of the chamber G3, as desired. Preferably thefinger piece I is adapted to slide within a slot z' in the upper plate Gand its knob I2 is substantially flush with the inner surface of thecover leaf so as not to interfere with the leaves of the book, when thebook is closed. In operating the locking mechanism to lock the coverleaves A, B together, the cover leaves are first positioned so that theylie substantially in the same plane. The finger' piece I is then graspedand moved forward toward cover leaf A', thereby sliding the boltforwardly out of the chamber r2 in cover leaf B into the receivingchamber E3 in cover leaf A', the pins H sliding respectively in holes gand e, and the web H in slots g and e until the parts assume thepositions shown in Fig. 5 with cover leaf A locked to cover leaf B. Thepins H serve as a means for strengthening the web H, and the wholeconstruction makes a very satisfactory bolt. By shifting finger piece Iin the opposite direction, the bolt is moved out of chamber E3, therebyreleasing' the cover leaves.

In order to preserve the appearance of the book the outer layer K of thebinding is eX- tended over and around the plates E, E,

respectively, of the cover leaf A similarly, the outer layer K of thecover leaf B is extended around the plates G G of said cover leaf. Boththe outer layers K K are provided with suitable holes and slots adaptedto register respectively with the holes and slots in the webs E2 and G2.The outer layer K is also provided with a slot 76, as shown in Fig. 3 onthe inner surface of the cover leaf to permit sliding of the knob I2 ofthe finger piece.

lllhat is claimed is l. A book embodying a plurality of independentgroups of book sheets, a common backing to which the inner edges of saidgroups are bound in substantial alinement one above the other, andindependent cover leaves for each group of sheets, the inner edges ofthe cover leaves being hinged to the common backing one above the other0n each side of the groups of book sheets, substantially as described.

2. A book embodying a plurality of independent groups of book sheetsbound at their inner edges in substantial alinement one above the other,independent cover leaves for each group of sheets, a common support towhich the inner edges of the cover leaves are hinged o'ne above theother on each side of the groups of book sheets, whereby one cover leafmay be opened independently of another cover leaf on the same side ofthe book, and means adapted to lock together the cover leaves on thesame side of the book, whereby all the cover leaves on that side of thebook may be turned in unison.

3. A book embodying a plurality of independent groups of book sheetsbound at their inner edges in substantial alinement one above the other,independent coverleaves for each group of sheets, a common support towhich the inner edges of said cover leaves are hinged one above theother on each side of the groups of sheets, a bolt-receiving chamberextending from the transverse edge of one of said cover leaves, a boltmounted in the next adjacent cover leaf on the same side of the book andadapted to be projected into said chamber, and means for moving saidbolt into and out of said chamber.

Il. A book embodying a plurality of independent groups of book sheetsbound at their inner edges in substantial alinement one above the other,independent cover leaves for each group of sheets, a common support towhich the inner edges of said cover leaves are hinged one above theother on each side of the groups of sheets, a locking member mounted inone of said cover leaves and adapted to be projected from its innertransverse edge, said member including a plurality of locking pins, aweb connecting said pins whereby they may move in unison, an openingextending inwardly from the opposed inner transverse edge of 5 dependentgroups of 10` are hinged one the adjacent cover leaf on the same side ofthe book, and means for moving said looking member into and out of theopening.

5. A book embodying a plurality of inbook sheets bound at their inneredges in substantial alinement one above the other, independent coverleaves for each group of sheets, a common 'support to which the'inneredges of said cover leaves above theother, on each side of the groups ofsheets, a locking member mounted in one of said cover leaves and copieso! this patent may be obtained for ve cents each', by addressing theWashington, D; C.

adaptedto be proj eet d from-its inner-transf Y il verse edge, guidingmeans in theoover leaf for the locking member, said member includoflooking pins, a vv'ebl conlng 'a plurality necting said` pins .wherebythey may move.

book, and means for mov-ingY said lookingY member into and out of thesaidi opening.` oonnonV L. SMITH.

CommissionerV of Patents.

